TV Ratings: 'Idol,' 'Big Bang' lead Thursday split, while 'Vampire Diaries' tops ABC and NBC

FOX takes the key demo, while CBS wins overall

By Daniel Fienberg Friday, Feb 22, 2013 11:58 AM

Thursday's "The Big Bang Theory"

Credit: CBS

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Fast National ratings for Thursday, February 21, 2013.

A two-hour "American Idol" installment pushed FOX to the top of the Thursday heap among young viewers, while "The Big Bang Theory" and "Person of Interest" helped keep CBS in first overall.

Meanwhile, "The Vampire Diaries" had a big week and helped The CW beat both ABC and NBC in the key demographic for the 8 p.m. hour.

Among other notables, it was a dismal week for NBC's "1600 Penn" and, for the first time in a while, ABC's "Scandal" was either flat or down, depending on how the numbers shake out.

On to the ratings...

Among adults 18-49, FOX averaged a 3.9 rating for Thursday night, beating the 3.3 rating for CBS in the key demographic. ABC was far back in third with a 2.2 key demo rating, beating NBC's 1.2 rating and the 0.9 key demo rating for The CW.

Overall, though, CBS averaged an estimated 13.52 million viewers and an 8.3 rating/13 share for Thursday primetime, nipping the 7.9/12 and 13.5 million viewers for FOX. There was a big drop to ABC's 4.9/8 and 7.16 million viewers and then to the 2.1/3 and 3.17 million viewers for NBC. The CW averaged a 1.4/2 and 2.22 million viewers for the night.

[Univision had a big night with 5.84 million viewers and a 2.4 rating among adults 18-49.]

8 p.m. - CBS started primetime in first with "The Big Bang Theory" (17.34 million viewers and a 5.4 key demo) and "Two and a Half Men" (13.44 million viewers and a 3.9 key demo). FOX was second for the hour (and first in the 8:30 half-hour) with 13.41 million viewers and a 3.8 rating among adults 18-49, up from the comparable hour last week. ABC's "Zero Hour" averaged 5.32 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating, dipping 21 percent in the key demo from last week's premiere. NBC was fourth with "Community" (3.08 million and a 1.1 key demo) and "Parks and Recreation" (3.03 million and a 1.3 key demo). The CW's "The Vampire Diaries" averaged 2.89 million viewers for fifth, but finished third with a 1.3 key demo rating, posting growth in every notable sub-demo.

9 p.m. - "Person of Interest" dropped from last week to 14.13 million viewers, but still won the hour, finishing third with a 2.9 rating among adults 18-49. FOX's "American Idol" dominated the key demo with a 4.0 rating and finished a close second overall with 13.6 million viewers. Even with the "Idol" competition, "Grey's Anatomy" was actually up from last week with 8.54 million viewers and a 3.0 key demo rating for ABC. NBC was fourth with a second "Parks and Recreation" episode (2.91 million and a 1.4 key demo rating") and a new "1600 Penn" (2.3 million and a 1.0 key demo). The CW's "Beauty and the Beast" averaged 1.56 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating, up from last week.

10 p.m. - "Elementary" closed primetime in first overall for CBS with 11.05 million viewers and in second with a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's "Scandal" won the hour with a 2.7 key demo rating and finished second with 7.62 million viewers. NBC was third with 3.86 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating for a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.

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Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.

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jc

Poor NBC. Go On, New Normal, Smash, 1600 Penn, Community - all getting woeful ratings of 3 mill viewers or less and between a 0.9-1.1.

Dan, I can see NBC maybe pulling 1600 Penn but keeping the other shows because really, what other choice do they have? What do you think?

I think for Tues they would be wise to just stick it out until The Voice returns and hope than can then give the progs after it a lift.
February 22, 2013 at 1:22PM EST Reply to Comment
- dan JC - I think "1600 Penn" is definitely dead and "Smash" is 99% dead. But I can see very logical reasons why NBC would stick with all of the rest. But I can also see good reasons why NBC might clean house and only keep one or two of them. I can't imagine EVERYTHING getting cancelled, but... Ugh. NBC is NBC...
  
  -Daniel
  February 22, 2013 at 1:37PM EST
Balaji K

I guess NBC tried to see how Parks & Rec anchors the 9PM hour now that The Office is ending this year. Not particularly well.

Almost every NBC show and comedy in particular is getting poor ratings. Go On, New Normal, Guys with Kids, Whitney, 1600 Penn, Community and even Parks & Rec are all doing badly.

I wonder how much dependant Revolution is on The Voice since it's evident that Go On is very much dependant on The Voice as a lead in.

In this bleak situation, I wonder how Hannibal will fare. I would celebrate if Hannibal arrives and some how sink Scandal. (Season one was bad, I didn't bother with the second season.)
February 22, 2013 at 1:56PM EST Reply to Comment
- Juner35 Vampire Diaries is one of the best tv shows they deserves to win as far as i am concern they are number one , and always will be.
  February 22, 2013 at 3:26PM EST
Brad

Zero Hour didn't help itself with the poor audio problems. Many people were complaining that the background music was to loud to understand the dialog. People were muting the show to watch it with captions in order to understand what was happening.
February 22, 2013 at 1:57PM EST Reply to Comment
jc

Dan, I meant this mid-season with all these shows. I can't see them pulling Smash this season and not airing all the new episodes, but I guess see where the ratings go in the next few weeks. I think Smash does decently in DVR playback which I assume NBC will be factoring into things. But I can see NBC pulling 1600 Penn this season. Don't they have Save Me to come in?

I'd actually be surprised if any of these shows (other than Go On, and maybe Community because of syndication) gets renewed for next season.
February 22, 2013 at 2:00PM EST Reply to Comment
Christine

The only NBC-related thing I care about is Parks and Rec getting a sixth season (shortened or otherwise). Yeah, it's doing terrible in the ratings, but it's doing less terrible than all of NBC's other non-The Office comedies. Therefore, it seems likely it will come back. But, like Dan stated, NBC is NBC.
February 22, 2013 at 2:10PM EST Reply to Comment
- The Dude I have a feeling, of all the NBC comedies, this one will have the best chance at renewal. It may be a shortened season, but NBC knows that the current fans are very passionate viewers, and they'll want to appease them by letting P&R have a farewell season. I guess you can make the same argument for Community, but with Harmon gone viewers are scattering like flies...I have a feeling it's done.
  February 23, 2013 at 2:41PM EST
Lana

That was a great episode of The Vampire Diaries, great work by Nina Dobrev, not that she'll ever be recognized for it.
February 22, 2013 at 2:29PM EST Reply to Comment
Juner35

Vampire Diaries is one of the best tv shows they deserves to win , as far as i am concern they are number one and always will be.
February 22, 2013 at 3:17PM EST Reply to Comment

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TV Ratings: 'Idol,' 'Big Bang' lead Thursday split, while 'Vampire Diaries' tops ABC and NBC